Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Welsh Government funding has enabled the Welsh ambulance service to deliver a range of actions to improve ambulance performance, including the recruitment of 100 additional staff, reformed rota arrangements, reductions in sickness absence, and new investment in technology to support clinical decision making.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. Well, I'm sure you will understand that, actually, we are very keen to get this under way as soon as possible. We are very aware that we need to increase the numbers of people in training to become medics, but, of course, we have to work within the confines that are set by the GMC. So, it's not up to us to say 'Right, switch it on'; we have to work with the GMC, which gives...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. May I say that I was delighted to have met Professor Mike Larvin recently, just to ensure that we are making progress with developments in the university? We are highly aware that we do need to be cognisant of how much recruitment there will be in terms of the numbers that are Welsh speaking, and I know that a particular focus has been placed on that, with work currently...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Intake numbers for the Bangor medical school have been approved, and funding has also approved for 140 students per year once the school reaches optimum capacity. A letter of assurance was sent to General Medical Council colleagues in November to allow Bangor University to continue their forward momentum through the accreditation process. Thank you.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, look, first of all, I think it's important that I set on record once again that we understand the strength of feeling felt by those people who feel like they've got no other option but to take industrial action. We believe that all our public sector workers should be fairly rewarded, and we think that the chaos that has been created by the Tory Government, and the increases that we've...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, it's clear that we spend a great deal of time preparing for winter—we know that there will be pressures during the winter months. They've already started—we've seen how much pressure there was on the services over the past weekend. It doesn't help when we see rates of scarlet fever increasing—we didn't expect to see that. So, there are things arising that we don't expect to see....
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, 'Happy Christmas' to you as well, Russell. [Laughter.] And I'm very pleased that that was your last question this year. Look, I've had better years, if I'm honest, and obviously, there are a lot of things that I wish that we'd seen improvements on and I wish we'd gone faster with some areas. Because for me, the key thing is to keep an eye on what is it that the public needs, and what...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, thanks. Listen, we've put in stretching targets; I'm confident that we are going to meet the target in many areas of specialisms and obviously, we're going to be pushing everybody to try. But we always said that orthopaedics in particular would be a particular challenge. I think you've got to just understand that, actually, when your capital budget has been cut, effectively, which is...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, you may have noticed that, actually, where the populations are based in Wales, it's very different from what exists in England—they have big cities; they have places that are near each other. It's much easier for them to organise separate surgical hubs. What we are doing is we're ring-fencing elective surgery, which is effectively doing the same thing. So, making sure that elective...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much. I'm pleased to say that I have followed up on that debate, and one of the things that I've done is to hold a cancer summit meeting, where, obviously, we looked at the breakdown of where we need to make further progress in relation in particular to gynaecological cancer. We're putting pressure on health boards to make sure that they understand what are the optimum pathways,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I'm very sorry to hear Emily's story; she is one of many women suffering from endometriosis. We have recognised that we need to do far more in this area, and that's why we do have endometriosis nurses in all health boards across Wales. So, improvements are being made, but we also recognise that we need more doctors who can undertake the interventions necessary for many...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The NHS Wales collaborative has led the development of a 10-year women's health plan, and this will form the service's response to the requirement set out in the women and girls health quality statement. The plan will deliver improvements to health provision for women across all regions of Wales.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Natasha, and thank you for the opportunity to draw attention to the fact that, actually, in cold weather, in icy weather, in snowy weather, you are more likely to fall. I would ask, in particular, those who are more frail to pay particular attention at this time of year, because the last thing we need is more pressure on our NHS at this point in time. So, thank you for...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Sorry, I'm just rescuing my water now. Thank you very much. I have made clear my expectation that all patients in Wales should receive equitable access to fracture liaison services, and we are working with health boards to achieve this.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The 'All-Wales Standards for Accessible Communication and Information for People with Sensory Loss' sets out the standards of service delivery that people with sensory loss should expect when accessing healthcare. These standards apply to all adults, young people and children.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The NHS in Wales has an obligation in law to make its services accessible to the people we serve, taking account of a number of factors including disability. Welsh Government officials continue to work with all health organisations across Wales to ensure that these obligations are met.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Welsh Government are working with NHS employers and trade unions to ensure that staff are supported. This will be provided through a range of initiatives, including promoting and protecting staff health and well-being through providing fundamental principles of physically and psychologically safe working environments, along with effective workforce planning and management.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Can I just be clear that the Scottish Government work within a different framework from the framework that we have? So, we have signed up to the independent pay commission. That's something that all the unions—they all agreed to do that. They all gave their evidence. We gave our evidence. They take independent evidence from people who know about the economy, inflation and all of those...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much. It's all very well for you to say, 'Da iawn'. The fact is, we've got a set amount of money. That's it. Right? So, we've got a choice: you either cut services or you cut the number of people in order to give a pay rise. Now, I don't think that's a space that the trade unions will want to enter, but obviously that is an option. That's an option. But, I think we've got to be...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'm saddened that our health workers have got to a point where they feel they need to take industrial action. I fully understand and sympathise with their situation, but, without additional funding from the UK Government, there is simply no money to increase our pay offer without substantial cuts to staffing and essential services. I'm meeting with representatives of all healthcare unions...
